"Another boring sunny day." Steelhoof grumbled to himself. The earth pony didn't mind the nice days. It was the repetitiveness that bothered him. Then again, a boring day for a royal guard is a good day for everypony. All he did was work patrol at the Canterlot Castle. He was part of the day patrol. There wasn't much too it. Walk about the area you were assigned, and watch out for trouble. Besides the occasional fellow guard being caught sleeping on the job, there wasn't much happening around here.
He was in a fairly remote location of patrol. The area around the castle infirmary. The place was rather quiet during peaceful times. So most of the time. Even if it was boring, this stallion had a job to do.
"Steelhoof!" a voice shouted. He turned around to see who it was. He immediately saluted. It was Captain Shining Armor. "At ease." the captain said.
"Good morning sir." Steelhoof said.
"How goes patrol?" his superior asked.
"Quiet on all fronts sir." he said. "The only exception being the two fresh recruits I caught taking a nap. They ran back to their patrol as soon as I saw them." That seemed to have gotten a smirk out of the captain. A rare occurrence on duty.
"I remember doing the same in my younger years." said Shining. "Nonetheless. Good work. Continue your patrol."
"Yes sir!" Steelhoof said with a salute. The captain walked away. The guard was left alone with his thoughts once more. The brief interactions were the only ones he would get on patrol. This guard was never one to wish for excitement for the sake of relieving his own boredom. He had his duty to perform.
Suddenly, Steelhoof felt something bounce against his back. He immediately turned around. There was nothing there. Just a few wisps of blue magical energy being lost to the wind. Could've been the two new recruits messing with him. He neglected to tell the captain how he shouted the two recruits awake.
As he continues his walk, the pony shifts around in his armor. It was feeling oddly looser. It was strange how metallic armor could feel as if it loosened. Perhaps he wasn't getting enough to eat at the mess hall. A larger serving for supper would have to be in order. A mental note made for later.
Now his hoofshoes were clacking against the ground as they seemed to slip a little whenever he raised a hoof stepping. Something wasn't making sense. The hoofshoes were a tight fit. He knew for a fact they should never come off on their own. This was getting more and more confusing.
Steelhoof's helmet suddenly dropped in front of his eyes. He shook his head back so he could see. Now nothing made sense. The armor on his body could be explained by weight change. His hoofshoes were confusing, but could be written off as them being too worn. But his helmet? Heads don't get smaller.
That's when it hit him. The armor wasn't bigger or loose. He was smaller. At least, getting smaller. Looking down, he could see the ground slowly inch closer. This wasn't good. The guard pony was shrinking. At the rate he was going, he'd be matching height with a breezie in minutes.
No. He needed to stay calm. He needed to remember his training. He was afflicted with a spell that was making him shrink. He needed to find a unicorn guard, or the captain. Somepony who knew magic and could reverse this. He somewhat grumbled to himself as he remembered his patrol had him pretty much alone.
"I can't believe that old timer gave us an earful." a distant voice said.
Steelhoof looked over in the distance. It was the new recruits he yelled at for sleeping! Though he wasn't on the best of terms with them, duty came first. Surely they at least would know to get help. He began to trot over as quick as he could. His rapidly growing armor was making that quite the challenge. His helmet kept falling over his eyes with each step. His body armor was weighing down more and more. His hoofshoes were somehow still on. The earth pony was glad to be among guards if caught. To anypony else he would look ridculous. Like a young foal trying to wear their father's armor.
Suddenly, everything went gold. Loud bangs exploded in Steelhoof's ears. Looking around, it seemed the shrinking accelerated. He was no bigger than a newborn. His own helmet shrouded him. Using his earth pony strength, he pushed the now much bigger helmet away. He took a moment to look around. His armor looked like it would fit a giant.
He took a moment to catch his breath. He walked over to one his hoofshoes. He gingerly put his front left hoof in. Then his front right hoof. They both fit in just fine. This wasn't getting any better. He needed to get to the new recruits. He took a step, but fate had other plans.
The hoofshoe he had just had his hooves in was now a lot bigger. The magic on him must've accelerated again. He was far too small to jump out. The wall towered above him much like the walls of the castle. It was fairly intimidating to look up at.
Though that wasn't nearly as intimidating as the world shaking steps that rapidly grew around him. Even that wasn't as bad as seeing the two recruits. Gargantuan didn't begin to describe it. The recruits he had stared down upon and yelled at, were incomprehensibly massive. He could swear the first unicorn of the two was staring at him.
"Looks like Steelhoof dropped his armor." the young unicorn smirked. "Guess we'll have to put this discarded armor away so nopony finds out." The unicorn's cohort only chuckled as he stared at the shrunken pony as well.
Steelhoof felt his world get much lighter as a blue aura surrounded everything in sight. Seems the recruits were returning the armor. He wondered if they were going to ever return him.
